Discussion found cheap but good working alternatives of custom regulators

[xsping]

they are working many days on my first portable,this cheap regulator as below picture,half dollar for one piece
remarks: this reg only supply 1.8v,3v and 5v on original design, you can change the adjustable resistance on the board, or replace the normal resistance to get more stable 1v and 1.15v. If this kind regulator can work longer, i will give up expensive pth08080, because pth08080 already killed 2 wii, when frying itself

 

[GingerOfOz]

These regulators have been used in the past, but have become such a liability that we don't recommend them ever. They get extremely hot, have terrible efficiency ratings, and are prone to killing whatever they are wired to.

If you had issues with the PTH08080s, then you were either wiring them up wrong or were given fakes. These regulators are a liability and should NOT be used in portables.

EDIT: I looked over your thread where you talked about your PTH issues and your problem is most likely your soldering job.

 

[Stitches]

Uhhhhhh, how about fuckin' no? Those things have exploded and set shit on fire during testing in the past. There's a reason we recommend PTH or bust. As Ginger said, your Wiis died most likely because of your soldering work. Cheap shit is exactly that, shit.

 

[DDIblis]

It's a good idea to search the forum a bit before asking questions, I asked the same thing a few days ago and the response was the same exact thing you just got man, I know it's pretty steep to have to buy those regulators for 10 dollars a piece when you need 4, (I'm saving up for some right now) but it's better in my opinion to get something higher quality that works rather than bad quality that'll cost you having to buy a new console even if there's a learning curve to them, and this is coming from someone who has no idea how the hell to wire up the custom regulators, I just know it's better off to learn the custom ones than burn my project to the ground with a crappy cheat one

 

[DeoNaught]

Since people have already said something, I won't say anything about it.

Buuuttttt, I found this listing of two PTH08080 for $12 https://www.ebay.com/itm/USA-Seller...372522?hash=item23b90b2c2a:g:uNsAAOxyxU1Q4zKr

I bought mine from this guy, and they are pretty good, I got him to do a best offer of two (which was four) for $20(plus shipping), which is really good, and the seller is really nice(from my limited experience with them). It's a really good for the price (about $6 per reg), so if you can't get them from digikey or whatever, It's a good source

 

[xsping]

but actually the cheap one works very well, i also buy abothor kind of cheap one, but it fried when i connect power and can not adjust the output voltage.

 

[Stitches]

i also buy abothor kind of cheap one, but it fried when i connect power and can not adjust the output voltage.

 

[jefflongo]

but actually the cheap one works very well, i also buy abothor kind of cheap one, but it fried when i connect power and can not adjust the output voltage.

Just because it works doesn't make it good. You should check the heat after a few hours of play (I'll bet they're burning hot) and you have no idea how long they will last. That's why we use the PTH regulators.

 

[Notjohnny]

You should check the heat after a few hours of play

Hours? I've had some of them in the past, 1.2A of load(rated for 3A max), one burned itself and another one melted a bit of plastic after like 15min or so. Cheap shit produces great problems (or fires).

 

[Stitches]

Hours? I've had some of them in the past, 1.2A of load(rated for 3A max), one burned itself and another one melted a bit of plastic after like 15min or so. Cheap shit produces great problems (or fires).

Chinesium is the most flammable material in the known universe.

 

[xsping]

Chinesium is the most flammable material in the known universe.

sorry to hear about that， but these cheap regs work very smoothly until now，that is why i recommended the cheap one. But the fact i must clarify is China can make higher quality product if same money is paid,the cost of pth08080 is very low, the bottom main component ps xxxxx only worth 1/4 dollar,and you konw how cheap other small caps and resistances on pth08080 are, but the price is too much high.

 

[DeoNaught]

You pay for what you get : >

people have tried cheaping it out before, it may work for some time, but never in the long run.

 

[xsping]

You pay for what you get : >

people have tried cheaping it out before, it may work for some time, but never in the long run.

i do this intresting work mostly because wii is very cheap to get, however the pth08080 is far more expensive than wii, so i try to find the cheap regs, i bought three kind cheap regs, and find only this kind is good to use until now

 

[VanBrunning]

Hours? I've had some of them in the past, 1.2A of load(rated for 3A max), one burned itself and another one melted a bit of plastic after like 15min or so. Cheap shit produces great problems (or fires).

I don't know why so many people have issues using these cheap Chinese Buck converters. If you are going to drive them above 50% of the rated continuous current, and you are concerned, double up. Give each of the a .1 Ohm resistor on the positive lead then connect the other side of each resistor together. Wa-la you have effectively reduced the amount of heat they generate by about 50% while doubling the rated output. Running them in parallel effectively.

The downside is obviously space. As for creating 1v and 1.15v rails. Personally I would recommend NOT using any sort of variable resistor. They change resistance over time, sometimes just because of humidity, or altitude. That could make your system unstable or just out right kill it.... DO NOT GLUE THEM, I learned that the hard way when I was 15 modding an Xbox 360 controller. God I'm old.

Otherwise .1 Ohm on the output of each before connecting them in parallel works just fine. Happy modding!

 

[Trimesh]

I think it's mostly a question of confidence. When you are doing things like chopping console PCBs down with a Dremel and soldering absurdly small wires to them there is a lot that could go wrong - so anything you can put in the "definitely working" category is a plus.

Those PTH08080 modules are basically the application note circuit for the TPS54350 pre-assembled on a little PCB for you - so you have a well characterized part (the chip is 15 years old!) using a tested circuit in a module assembled by the silicon vendor - so you can have an extremely high level of confidence that it's going to work, and it's one less thing to worry about.

If you buy some module from a third-tier vendor on Ali Express or Taobao then it will probably work fine - but unless you happen to have the necessary test equipment handy you really have no way of verifying that without connecting it to your project, and if it doesn't work then you have to work out if the module is causing the problem or something else.

 

[GingerOfOz]

I don't know why so many people have issues using these cheap Chinese Buck converters. If you are going to drive them above 50% of the rated continuous current, and you are concerned, double up. Give each of the a .1 Ohm resistor on the positive lead then connect the other side of each resistor together. Wa-la you have effectively reduced the amount of heat they generate by about 50% while doubling the rated output. Running them in parallel effectively.

The downside is obviously space. As for creating 1v and 1.15v rails. Personally I would recommend NOT using any sort of variable resistor. They change resistance over time, sometimes just because of humidity, or altitude. That could make your system unstable or just out right kill it.... DO NOT GLUE THEM, I learned that the hard way when I was 15 modding an Xbox 360 controller. God I'm old.

Otherwise .1 Ohm on the output of each before connecting them in parallel works just fine. Happy modding!

When the BOM of a portable is several hundred dollars, spending $20 extra on regulators that work all the time, don't heat up ridiculously, and don't blow up is just kind of a given.

If you're going to drive something at above 50% the rated current, the secret to fixing it is to GET A DIFFERENT REGULATOR. Slapping a resistor on the end is not a magic fix, if it was as easy as that then why wouldn't the manufacturer do that in the first place?

One last time. Do not use these cheapo regs in portable projects if you want your build to have any sort of longevity.

 

[Shank]

I don't know why so many people have issues using these cheap Chinese Buck converters. If you are going to drive them above 50% of the rated continuous current, and you are concerned, double up. Give each of the a .1 Ohm resistor on the positive lead then connect the other side of each resistor together. Wa-la you have effectively reduced the amount of heat they generate by about 50% while doubling the rated output. Running them in parallel effectively.

The downside is obviously space. As for creating 1v and 1.15v rails. Personally I would recommend NOT using any sort of variable resistor. They change resistance over time, sometimes just because of humidity, or altitude. That could make your system unstable or just out right kill it.... DO NOT GLUE THEM, I learned that the hard way when I was 15 modding an Xbox 360 controller. God I'm old.

Otherwise .1 Ohm on the output of each before connecting them in parallel works just fine. Happy modding!

 

[Stitches]

I don't know why so many people have issues using these cheap Chinese Buck converters. If you are going to drive them above 50% of the rated continuous current, and you are concerned, double up. Give each of the a .1 Ohm resistor on the positive lead then connect the other side of each resistor together. Wa-la you have effectively reduced the amount of heat they generate by about 50% while doubling the rated output. Running them in parallel effectively.

No. Just no. Don't do this. Don't use shit regs at all. Use good regs and cut out the middlebullshit. Shit + shit = shit, adding more won't make it less shit. pls

The downside is obviously space. As for creating 1v and 1.15v rails. Personally I would recommend NOT using any sort of variable resistor. They change resistance over time, sometimes just because of humidity, or altitude. That could make your system unstable or just out right kill it.... DO NOT GLUE THEM, I learned that the hard way when I was 15 modding an Xbox 360 controller. God I'm old.

This bit is correct and quite sound advice. Potentiometers are no good to use for voltage setting, proper fixed 1% 1/4w resistors or bust.

Otherwise .1 Ohm on the output of each before connecting them in parallel works just fine

Yeah, nah. Still doesn't make it less shit. One reg per rail, or not at all.

Happy modding!

It's only happy when things work, and shit rarely works. Admirable sentiment tho.

 

[Trimesh]

OK, time for me to eat a bit of crow here. I just had an attack of boredom and decided to test the regulators that the OP linked to ... and they honestly seem pretty good.



This is my (messy!) test setup - the voltage was basically arbitrary (it's what you get when you jump the 1.8V link but leave the pot connected) - the input voltage was set to 7.6V to represent 2 Li batteries in series.

I left it running for 3 hours @ 2A load, the the peak temperatures were as indicated - the upper display (T1) is the regulator IC and the lower one (T2) is the magnetics. The end of run temperature was about 3 deg. C less than the recorded maximums in both cases.

DC efficiency is 83%, and remained pretty much unchanged throughout the run.

I would expect the PTH08080 modules to be a bit more efficient and run slightly cooler - mostly because they have a dedicated low-side switch and judging from the waveforms this one doesn't.

 

[GingerOfOz]

These regulators have been used in the past, but have become such a liability that we don't recommend them ever. They get extremely hot, have terrible efficiency ratings, and are prone to killing whatever they are wired to.

If you had issues with the PTH08080s, then you were either wiring them up wrong or were given fakes. These regulators are a liability and should NOT be used in portables.

EDIT: I looked over your thread where you talked about your PTH issues and your problem is most likely your soldering job.

Uhhhhhh, how about fuckin' no? Those things have exploded and set shit on fire during testing in the past. There's a reason we recommend PTH or bust. As Ginger said, your Wiis died most likely because of your soldering work. Cheap shit is exactly that, shit.

Just because it works doesn't make it good. You should check the heat after a few hours of play (I'll bet they're burning hot) and you have no idea how long they will last. That's why we use the PTH regulators.

Hours? I've had some of them in the past, 1.2A of load(rated for 3A max), one burned itself and another one melted a bit of plastic after like 15min or so. Cheap shit produces great problems (or fires).

When the BOM of a portable is several hundred dollars, spending $20 extra on regulators that work all the time, don't heat up ridiculously, and don't blow up is just kind of a given.

If you're going to drive something at above 50% the rated current, the secret to fixing it is to GET A DIFFERENT REGULATOR. Slapping a resistor on the end is not a magic fix, if it was as easy as that then why wouldn't the manufacturer do that in the first place?

One last time. Do not use these cheapo regs in portable projects if you want your build to have any sort of longevity.

No. Just no. Don't do this. Don't use shit regs at all. Use good regs and cut out the middlebullshit. Shit + shit = shit, adding more won't make it less shit. pls

This bit is correct and quite sound advice. Potentiometers are no good to use for voltage setting, proper fixed 1% 1/4w resistors or bust.

Yeah, nah. Still doesn't make it less shit. One reg per rail, or not at all.

It's only happy when things work, and shit rarely works. Admirable sentiment tho.

Do NOT use these regs to power your portable Wii. One test at a voltage the regulator is actually rated for is not proof that these are good regs. What happens if the current varies a lot? What happens when the regs are in an enclosed space like they will be in a portable?

Multiple people have explained everything bad that happens when you use these regulators. Sure, they're cheap and so if they die you don't lose much, but what if when they die they take something else down with it? Do not use these regulators, end of story.